Thursday, January 8, 2015

2 Prominent Republicans From JW’s Corrupt List Go Down

Two distinguished alums of Judicial Watch’s annual corrupt
politicians list—both prominent Republicans considered to have bright
political futures—have been convicted of crimes and will fade into
private life in disgrace.
First we have former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, not long ago
considered a serious White House Contender. Instead, the member of JW’s 2013 Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians list
got convicted for public corruption. McDonnell exchanged expensive
gifts and cash for political favors. Among the gifts were luxury
vacations, an engraved Rolex watch, a $10,000 suede coat, and a lavish
shopping spree at swanky New York City stores and a $15,000 wedding gift
to Governor McDonnell’s daughter. The governor and his wife also billed
Virginia taxpayers for things like dog vitamins, body wash, sunscreen,
deodorant and their adult children’s dry cleaning and used state workers
to run personal errands for their adult daughters.
In September a federal jury in Richmond convicted
McDonnell and his wife Maureen of multiple counts of corruption. After
deliberating for 17 hours, the jury found the former governor guilty on
11 corruption and fraud counts and his wife guilty on eight corruption
counts and one count of obstruction of justice. This includes six counts
of obtaining property, worth $138,804, under color of official right.
The amount includes a $15,000 check for the McDonnell daughter’s
wedding. This week the shamed politician got sentenced to two years in
prison.
Next we have Michael Grimm, a United States Congressman from Staten
Island New York who was a decorated Marine and FBI agent before getting
elected. Last month Grimm, who appears on JW’s 2012 Most Corrupt Politicians list, pleaded guilty to tax evasion and this week he resigned from Congress under pressure. Back in April JW reported that
Grimm was slapped with a 20-count federal indictment for hiding more
than $1 million in profits from a restaurant that employed a large
number of illegal immigrants.
Grimm, who is also a lawyer and an accountant, was an owner and
managing member of an Upper East Side fast-food restaurant called
Healthalicious. From 2007 to 2010 the one-time federal agent turned
legislator oversaw the restaurant’s day-to-day operations and he filed
false state and federal tax returns to conceal north of $1 million in
sales and wages, according to the feds. He also paid cooks, cashiers and
delivery persons, many of them in the U.S. illegally, hundreds of
thousands of dollars off the books.
To increase the profitability of the restaurant, the indictment says,
Grimm engaged in schemes to fraudulently under-report the wages he paid
his workers and fraudulently under-report the true amount of money the
restaurant earned to both federal and New York state tax and insurance
authorities. Many of the workers did not have legal status in the United
States, according to the federal complaint, and Grimm paid them in
cash. This lowered the restaurant’s payroll tax costs. The assistant
director in charge of New York’s FBI office said this about Grimm: “As a
former FBI agent, Representative Grimm should understand the motto
fidelity, bravery, and integrity. Yet he broke our credo at nearly every
turn. In this 20-count indictment, Representative Grimm honored a new
motto: fraud, perjury, and obstruction.”
Grimm’s case has received quite a bit of regional media coverage and
local newspapers called for his resignation from Congress long before he
felt the heat and stepped down. New Yorker Magazine published a
particularly entertaining story that
describes the saga like this; Grimm’s pugnacious career in government
service ended with a whimper. It also recalls some of the former
congressman’s finest moments in office such as his on-camera threat to
throw a New York television reporter off the capitol rotunda balcony for
asking about a Justice Department investigation into his shady
fundraising. Grimm was also caught on tape telling the reporter “I’ll
break you in half.” Here’s the video.